2019-23690. Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Payment of Premiums

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of request for OMB approval of revised collection of information.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, a modified collection of information under its regulation on Payment of Premiums (OMB control number 1212-0009; expiring June 30, 2021). This notice informs the public of PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted by November 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail at [e-mail] or by fax to 202-395-6974.

A copy of the request will be posted on PBGC's website at: https://www.pbgc.gov/​prac/​laws-and-regulation/​federal-register-notices-open-for-comment. It may also be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure Division of the Office of the General Counsel, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026; faxing a request to 202-326-4042; or, calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours (TTY users may call the Federal Relay Service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040). The Disclosure Division will email, fax, or mail the information to you, as you request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Melissa Rifkin ([e-mail]), Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026; 202-229-6563. (TTY users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4400, extension 6563.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 4007 of title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires pension plans covered under title IV pension insurance programs to pay premiums to PBGC. All plans covered by title IV pay a flat-rate per-participant premium. An underfunded single-employer plan also pays a variable-rate premium based on the value of the plan's unfunded vested benefits.

Pursuant to section 4007, PBGC has issued its regulation on Payment of Premiums (29 CFR part 4007). Under § 4007.3 of the premium payment regulation, the plan administrator of each pension plan covered by title IV of ERISA is required to file a premium payment and information prescribed by PBGC for each premium payment year. Premium information is filed electronically using “My Plan Administration Account” (“My PAA”) through PBGC's website. Under § 4007.10 of the premium payment regulation, plan administrators are required to retain records about premiums and information submitted in premium filings.

Premium filings report (i) the flat-rate premium and related data (all plans), (ii) the variable-rate premium and related data (single-employer plans), and (iii) additional data such as identifying information and miscellaneous plan-related or filing-related data (all plans). PBGC needs this information to identify the plans for which premiums are paid, to verify whether the amounts paid are correct, to help PBGC determine the magnitude of its exposure in the event of plan termination, to help track the creation of new plans and transfer of participants and assets and liabilities among plans, and to keep PBGC's insured-plan inventory up to date. That information and the retained records are also needed for audit purposes.

PBGC is modifying the 2020 filing and instructions to require that plans offering a lump sum window ^[1] separately report the number of participants in pay status who were offered and elected a lump sum in addition to the related current requirement with respect to participants not in pay status. This change reflects recent guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service.^[2] In addition, PBGC is changing the reporting period for risk transfer activity (lump sum windows and annuity purchases). Rather than the period falling between 60 days before the prior filing and 60 days before the current filing, the reporting period will be the prior premium payment year.

PBGC also is modifying the filing instructions for a plan that reports that a premium filing will be the last for the plan and checks the “cessation of covered status” box as the reason. Currently, such a plan must provide an explanation as to why they believe coverage has ceased and then PBGC typically contacts the plan to verify that coverage has ceased. PBGC is adding to the instructions that a plan that claims cessation of coverage status should complete a coverage determination request.

PBGC also is updating the premium rates and making conforming, clarifying, and editorial changes to the premium filing instructions.

On August 1, 2019, PBGC published in the Federal Register (at 84 FR 37694) a notice informing the public of its intent to request OMB approval for the revised information collection. PBGC did not receive any comments.

The collection of information has been approved through June 30, 2021, by OMB under control number 1212-0009. PBGC is requesting that OMB approve the revised collection of information for three years. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

PBGC estimates that it will receive 31,245 premium filings per year from 31,245 plan administrators under this collection of information. PBGC further estimates that the annual burden of this collection of information is 13,540 hours and $21,621,540.

Issued in Washington, DC.

Hilary Duke,

Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Footnotes

1.  PBGC's premium filing instructions define a lump sum window as a temporary opportunity to elect a lump sum in lieu of future annuity payments that is offered to individuals meeting specified criteria who would not otherwise be eligible to elect a lump sum.

2.  See Notice 2019-18, 2019-13 I.R.B. 915.